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Contents. 






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I. 
II. 


The Keynote op the Home, . 
The Thankful Heart, 


5 
21 




i^ 


1 


ni. 


Ydle-Tide Musings, 


36 






■< 


IV. 


The Vacant Chair, . • 


48 






i^ 


V. 


The Power of Prater, . 


64 






1 


•VI. 


A Plain Statement, . 


80 




t" • V 




VII. 


The Mother in Hee Home, . 


98 








VIII. 


Our Children, . 


116 


> 




IX. 


Way Stations in Life, . 


134 




-^^of the Mome 



what end are our homes ? 
Do they exist for display, 
for convenience, for retreat from 
the world, for the upbringing of 
children, for the conservation of 
the community ? or for what have 
we established them? The ques- 
tion is a pertinent one, and it has 
an interest for us all. 

In some households the chief 
6 



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object is apparently beauty of set- 
ting, and the strength of the house- 
mother and home-maker is ex- 
pended in keeping everything in 
order, in waging war on dust and 
dirt, and in securing exquisite dec- 
orations and fine furniture. 

Another matron regards the table 
as the all -important object, and 
on her dining-room she lavishes 
care and pains. Her table linen is 
immaculate, her china and silver 
are of the best, her plenishing of 
every sort matches the fastidious 
nicety of the viands which she 
serves to husband, children and 
guests. This extreme regard for 
one department of a home leads the 
good wife to devote much time to 
her marketing and more to her 
kitchen, so that her peril lies in the 
6 



Zbc Ikesnote of tbe Ibome* 



direction of bee fining too domestic, 
of so ministering to the bodies of 
her family that she shall neglect 
their hearts and minds in striving 
to promote their physical com- 
fort. 

Another home centre is the li- 
brary. In this household, culture 
is uppermost. New books are often 
seen, periodicals abound, and vol- 
umes of reference are frequently 
consulted. Young people are 
brought up in touch with the liter- 
ary thought of the period ; they 
speak with familiarity of authors 
and editors, and at school they are 
distinguished from their mates by 
a fuller vocabulary, a quicker ap- 
preciation and a greater sympathy 
with the intellectual aspects of their 
work. They will not only memo- 
7 






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rize and grasp facts and dates with 
ease, but the power of analysis and 
of intuitive comprehension will be 
more marked in the children of the 
home where books are of much ac- 
count. It has been noticed that 
the sons and daughters of the par- 
sonage are apt to seek a literary- 
avocation, and one reason for this 
is that from infancy books have 
formed a part of their background, 
and writing has been as familiar to 
their daily routine as weeding and 
hoeing to the farmer's boy, or ham- 
mering and sawing to the lad who 
has been brought up in the carpen- 
ter's shop. 

The keynote of a third home is 
saving, thrift, frugality. The chil- 
dren are encouraged to drop their 
pennies into a toy bank, and every 
8 







XTbe Ikesnote ot tbe Ibome* 



nerve is strained until they have 
enough to begin a savings bank 
account of their own. Father and 
mother look well to their expendi- 
tures, and scorn extravagance as a 
deadly sin. There is sincerity and 
nobility in this keynote, and it needs 
to be emphasized in an age when 
luxury is enervating society, and 
personal indulgence is often a temp- 
tation to corruption and dishonesty. 
Yet this virtue has its seamy side. 
Thrift which is simply for self- 
aggrandizement leads to hoarding, 
and hoarding is the crime of the 
miser. We should save that we 
may pay our debts, that we may 
live honorably, that we may lay up 
for the future and make provision 
for old age and illness ; and we should 
economize also that it may be in 
9 



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our power to help on the Lord's 
work; and to send the story of His 
love and His redemptive grace to 
the ends of the world. 

There are other keynotes; you 
can think of them for yourself. 
There are keynotes of happiness 
and of discord. One of the latter, 
unhappily too frequent, is found in 
the home where there is not a right 
understanding of the matter of 
money. Many a young wife finds 
her first disillusion, her first awak- 
ening to the sordid realities of life, 
in the discovery that her husband 
is keeping a tight grip on the 
pocketbook, and refusing her 
any portion of the family means. 
Probably there is more unsuspected 
domestic wretchedness to be laid at 
the door of this blundering finan- 
10 



cial policy in the home, than at 
any other. 

^' I must have money ! " sighs the 
woman who, as a girl, earned her 
own support and was the independ- 
ent owner of her gains or salary. 
The daughter who had in her fa- 
ther s house her personal allowance 
is naturally distressed and depressed 
if her husband insists on seeing 
just where every penny goes, and 
paying every one of her bills him- 
self. 

If men understood the position, 
most of them would be willing to 
ameliorate it, for a truly devoted 
husband does not wish the harmony 
of the home to be disturbed by a 
single jarring note. Men do not 
always see for themselves, and wives 
are often too proud to tell them, 
11 



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that there is just here such a woful 
pinch in the shoe that the good 
comradeship of the road cannot but 
suffer. 

When in any home the key of 
the daily living takes hold on the 
life invisible, there v^ill be joy and 
gladness there. Morning and eve- 
ning the psalm of praise will ascend, 
and there will be time for family 
worship. Grace before meat will 
be the invariable rule. Should any 
member of the family wander to 
far lands, there will be a wonderful 
comfort when absent and distant in 
the reflection that he or she is al- 
ways remembered at the throne. 
The Bible will not be an unknown 
and unread book around the hearth. 
Missions will be followed with in- 
terest, and church work in every 



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branch will turn for support and 
for helpers to that household. The 
keynote of any home being loyalty 
to Christ, what consecration of the 
individual must follow, what win- 
some piety, what earnest devotion! 
In such a home the little ones 
will early begin to ask, ^^ What would 
Jesus have me do ? " And the an- 
swer to that question will vitalize 
their daily conduct. While still 
they are young, they will enter the 
visible church, one after another 
entering into the fellowship of the 
disciples, and learning, even in 
childhood, the full sweetness of the 
blessed life. 

/ Of all keynotes for the individ- 
ual and the family, this is clearly 
the highest, the sweetest, and most 
far-reaching — loyalty to Christ 
13 



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as the Master, as the Risen One, 
as the Friend for life and for 
death. This would lift us out of 
the commonplace and dignify for 
us the lowliest routine, and make 
our lives emphatic and impressive. 
If the house mistress were loyal to 
Christ, the maid in the kitchen and 
the laundress at her tubs ought to 
be the better for it, ought to feel 
the perfume of the lilies in her 
soul's garden. If the employer 
were loyal to Christ, every clerk 
and office boy and porter in the es- 
tablishment would be fully aware 
of it. 

We are dwelling in an age of 
materialism, when poetry and ro- 
mance are banished to retirement, 
and commercial greed and great 
accumulations are everywhere pro- 
14 



Zbc IResnote of tbe Ibome^ 



nounced and evident. Yet this is 
also an age when there is a leaven 
of righteousness abroad and work- 
ing, when men and women seek 
revival and ask for the Holy Ghost, 
and when the Lord is preparing a 
way for his conquest of the whole 
earth. Shall not the keynote of 
our living be such that those who 
meet us may take knowledge of us 
that we are oft in communion with 
our blessed Lord, that we are his 
followers and servants, and are of 
the company of his friends and dear 
ones ? 

The art of having a good time as 
we go along is one worth cultivat- 
ing by Christian people. 

Not long ago in a public convey- 
ance I had for a near neighbor a 
lady of fifty, very richly dressed 
15 



and belonging to the ranks of those 
who fare sumptuously every day. 
Her face was high-bred and cul- 
tured, and her features regular and 
beautiful* Refined, wealthy and 
educated, it was soon apparent that 
discontent and f retfulness were the 
keynotes of the woman's character. 
Small discomforts loomed large in 
her eyes. She was pettish and 
cross at the trifling delays of the 
journey and her travelling compan- 
ions were irksome to her. The 
daily habit of finding needless fault 
had stamped itself on the forehead, 
covered with criss-cross lines and 
fine wrinkles; the corners of the 
mouth drooped, the countenance 
was disfigured by a perpetual frown. 
Yet, once this woman had had in 
her own hands the making of her 
16 




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Ube ikesnote ot tbe Ibome* 



expression. It might have been 
c-^mposed, benignant^ and tranquil, 
{■-omewhere, at some stage, she had 
struck the wrong keynote. 

The shut-in, the invaHd to whom 
years bring little relief, and who 
endures much torturing bodily pain, 
is often so attuned to peace by the 
ineffable resignation which accepts 
as best whatever cup the Master 
presses to the pallid lips, that the 
chamber of illness is as the vesti- 
bule of heaven. Christ can give 
to those who seek him, compensa- 
tion for every hour of physical an- 
guish, and ease for every pain. 
Often we have seen an active 
woman suddenly laid aside by a 
malady of the nerves, an inward 
agony, perhaps incurable, or by the 
creeping on of blindness. But so 
2 17 




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long had she dwelt in serene acqui- 
escence with God's wdllj so utterly 
had she given herself to him, that 
she was willing to be laid aside, if 
she could thus serve him best, and 
in the keynote of such service there 
was no lack of harmony. 

*' They also serve who only stand and wait." 

To us all, and this thought is 
both solemn and practical, God 
gives a daily and hourly power of 
choice. He ordains our paths. But 
he also accords to us freedom in 
every step of every day. If we are 
to take care of the aged and the 
sorrowful, instead of cultivating 
our own mental powers, and fulfill- 
ing our own ambitions, he means 
us to live moment by moment, do- 
ing that and neither lamenting nor 
grieving. The angels, sent hither 
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from his presence, never question 
what their ministry shall be. They 
simply go where they are sent, and, 
little or great as their errand may 
be, they perform it as sent with a 
warrant from the King. So we, 
his dear children, should go serenely 
and with courage on our daily path. 

Give me, dear Saviour, every hour, 

To know thy holy will; 
In times of sorrow and dismay 

To reverently be still; 
In days of duty at the front, 

Thy orders to fulfil. 

We should listen in the silence 
of the closet for the message of the 
King. We should look for it in 
the Scriptures among the glorious 
" I wills " of the everlasting God. 
We should seek it in the society of 
Christian friends, and in the Sun- 
day school class, the Christian En- 
19 




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deavor meeting and the prayer-cir- 
cle. And " our lives will be all 
sweetness in the sunshine of our 
Lord/' if the keynote of earthly 
labor be pitched to the melody of 
the heavenly home. 

I sometimes wonder whether we 
are wrought upon as we might be 
by contemplation of the future and 
the world unseen. Ezekiel by the 
river Chebar and John in Patmos 
had visions of God. We might be 
lifted above many a small vexation, 
and strengthened in many a trial if 
we, too, seeking a revelation of the 
divine, looked rather into the heav- 
ens above than into the seething, 
anxious, and toilsome scenes be- 
neath and around us. For 



**We are on our journey home 
Where Christ our Lord has gone.' 
20 




XLnlh Seconb 



XCbankfuI Heart 

^ANY people dislike the au- 
tumn season^ finding a cer- 
tain melancholy lowering of spirits 
in its march toward winter, and 
dreading the time of flying snow 
and leafless trees. To others the 
autumn, with its thought of fulfil- 
ment, with its garnered harvests, 
and pageantry of color, and final 
quiet and peace, brings only a sense. 
21 



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of enjoyment. The one sentiment 
finds expression in Lowell's familiar 
stanza : 

** We, too, have autumns, when our leaves 
Drop loosely through the dampened air, 
When all our good seems bound in sheaves, 
And we stand reaped and bare." 

The other feeling is sung by 
Whittier in his tender lyric, ''My 
Psalm/' when he says : 

** The woods shall wear their robes of praise, 
The south wind softly sigh, 
And sweet calm days in golden haze 
Melt down the amber sky." 

A peculiar felicity of choice has 
given us our period of Annual 
Thanksgiving in late November, 
almost in the gateway of winter, 
when the household arrangements 
for cold weather are completed. 
The children are settled at school 
and the young people engaged in 
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XCbe Ubanftful Meart 



business. Bright fires are on the 
hearthj bright lamplight cheers the 
evening, a circle of dear ones sur- 
round the table. The home gath- 
ers its charmed group night after 
night; father, mother, little folk, 
and perhaps beloved old people, are 
there in kindly fellowship ; and the 
cold weather outside does not mat- 
ter, for there is blessedness and 
heart-warmth within the doors. 
Spring and summer, with all their 
affluent beauty, give the note for 
scattering forces, for travel here 
and there, for visits abroad ; autumn 
sounds the rally of the kindred, and 
at Thanksgiving sends far afield a 
summons for the trooping home- 
ward of the family clans, the return 
of grown-up sons and daughters 
with their children to the old home- 
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stead and the mother's knee, and 
the united acknowledgment of our 
dependence as God's children upon 
our heavenly Father. We may 
well rejoice that our distinctively 
American festival has this aspect 
of reverence, that it has never lost 
the religious character, while re- 
taining its hold upon our people, 
so that it is still a force in the as- 
similation of the various elements 
which compose our strong young 
nation of the West. Thanksgiving 
Day robs autumn of gloom, and 
bids us all be glad and grateful — 
glad in our personal lives, and grate- 
ful for the wonderful things which 
God has done for us on land and 
sea, for the mercies w^hich are new 
every morning and fresh every eve- 
ning, and for safety from peril and 
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Zbc Ubanftful Meart 



accident, help in temptation, grace 
for our weakness and sin, and relief 
in every time of need. 
'^ // Dear friends, in our individual 
lives, most of us are apt to be too 
strenuous, too eager to see results 
from our efforts before they have 
had time to grow, too impatient 
with seasons of preparation, and 
too anxious after we have done our 
best. It is trite to repeat that hurry 
and worry lay waste our souls, drive 
their stern ploughshares through 
our daily tranquillity, and banish 
serenity from our faces. You know, 
beloved house-mother, how much 
you attempt and how short seems 
the time in which you can accom- 
plish all you lay out to do. So 
many little garments to cut and 
baste and finish from seam to but- 
25 





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tonhole^ so mucli mending to be at- 
tended to weekly, so much contriv- 
ing and managing and working to 
keep the house clean^ the meals at- 
tractive^ and the machinery of hfe 
smooth and well-oiled. Sometimes 
you are prodigal of your own 
strength^ and wear out when you 
are most needed^ because you have 
never saved yourself. You know, 
husband and father, what a weight 
of responsibility you carry, and how 
heavily it presses upon you, in these 
days of intense competition and fe- 
verish struggle, especially when 
there is no corresponding increase 
of income to meet the multiplied 
demands of a growing family. To 
both of you life puts on sober rai- 
ment, you do not smile as frequently 
as you ought, and there is a pucker 
26 



Ube Ubanfttul IHeart 




between your eyes. The children 
do not associate mirth with you ; 
your very affection for them is so 
tinctured with care, that to their 
apprehension it is grave and severe, 
and they will not comprehend its 
depth and unselfishness until they 
stand in the future where you now 
stand. 

For every weary worker there is 
present rest. For every solicitude 
there is heartsease. For every cloud 
there is sunshine. In every vicissi- 
tude there is Christ. No one of us 
should ever be " blue/' or depressed, 
or discouraged in the greatness of 
the way, for it is the way of the di- 
vine appointment, and our Lord is 
with us in it, going on before. 

In the busiest life, in the busiest 
days, it pays, and it is the best wis- 
27 



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dom and the bounden duty of the 
Christian^ to take a frequent resting- 
spell. Looking upon it as a duty, 
we shall see that even if we must 
struggle to be gay and light of 
heart, we cannot afford to give up 
the fight, and to walk through the 
world with bowed heads and shad- 
owed faces. Often we, who have 
reached life's autumn, have forgot- 
ten how we felt in the spring. The 
habit of depression has become 
fixed. We are almost always too 
tired physically to be mentally elas- 
tic. We have so economized time 
in the interest of work, that we have 
left no margin for recreation. Per- 
haps we have fallen out of the habit 
of daily prayer, and daily Bible 
study, thus leaving the spiritual life 
needlessly barren and arid. They 
28 



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who keep the morning watch with 
Jesus, they who never omit their 
tryst with him at night, will go from 
strength to strength, and even in 
seasons of profound disheartenment 
will receive help and illumination. 
^^When all the springs are dry" 
there are those who are filled at the 
Living Fountain. 

Gayety of heart is incompatible, 
say some, with the pressure of pain, 
with impaired health, with the men- 
ace of an approaching affliction. 
Yes, when one sees with clear vision 
that death is coming to take hence 
a dear one, it is not easy to be gay, 
though one may even then be thank- 
ful and be uplifted above depres- 
sion. To the Christian death means 
only a short parting, and grief has 
always an upper side, shining with 
29 



XCalfts Between Zimcs. 



the glory of the land of great dis- 
tances, which is not far from any 
one of us. I have seen the cham- 
ber of illness so beautiful with 
Christ's abiding that no place on 
earth was worthy to be mentioned 
with it for joy unspeakable. If we 
but accept whatever God sends, and 
rest our heads on his will as on a 
pillow, we shall not be sad, though 
we may often be thoughtful and 
may sometimes dwell for awhile 
apart. If Christ call us to the des- 
ert place, he will give us so much 
of his company there that we shall 
rest and gain renewed refreshment 
while we tarry with him. 

One secret of maintaining an 

habitual frame of thankfulness is 

learned in cultivating acquaintance 

with the pleasant things in our lives. 

30 



Ubc Ubanf?tul "Bcavt, 



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A morbid tendency inheres in that 
quahty of mind which dwells only 
on losses and disappointments. 
We may better remember the years 
of the right hand of the Most High. 
Every day it is a profitable exercise 
to recapitulate our reasons for re- 
joicings such as the presence of 
children in our home, their develop- 
ment, their health, their amiability, 
our opportunities for work, our 
agreeable communion with friends, 
our church privileges, our restora- 
tion from illness, or our immunity 
from its ravages, and the happy 
surprises which come to most of us 
far oftener than the thunder-bursts 
of sorrow. 

As we grow older we should en- 
deavor to keep fast hold of youth- 
ful energy and youthful spontaneity 
31 



Zaike ^Between XCimes* 




and sympathy. I believe in the 
union of young and old people in 
the family, in the church, and in 
the community. Any hard and fast 
separation of the two is unfortu- 
nate for both. Especially may we 
say to the young, we, who have 
gone a little farther on, " Give us 
of your abundant vitality, of your 
quick and fearless impulses, of your 
effervescent cheer." And they, in 
turn, may derive staying power and 
receive counsels of discretion, of 
moderation, of tolerance and char- 
ity from us. Neither has a right 
to misunderstand or to discount the 
other. Youth has ever been in the 
van in the forward movements of 
civilization, because youth is im- 
petuous, brave and full of faith. 
But all that is best in youth should 
32 



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survive in us until we reach the end 
of the day here, and go home to 
the Father's house. 

Life is composed of little things, 
little minutes, little duties, little 
experiences. We sometimes under- 
rate the importance of our own 
spherCj the nobility of our own call- 
ing, because we must do our own 
work in an obscure place, with no 
especial praise of men. Rightly 
estimated, no work is despicable, if 
it is done heartily as to the Lord, 
and all work is honorable when God- 
ordained, and intertwined in some 
way with every other good work in 
the universe. When you are sell- 
ing a yard of blue ribbon or match- 
ing a bit of silk, you are as neces- 
sary in your small place to the great 
world of commerce, as is the well- 
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known head of your firm with his 
splendid reputation. It is because 
you and others sell the ribbons and 
the silks with care and pains and 
conscience^, that the great work of 
the great house goes on success- 
fully. All vast enterprises include 
an immense number of individual 
fidelities^ many of them seen only 
by God, but none of them forgotten 
of him. 

Another thought in this frank 
consideration of thankfulness as a 
habit is that it grows by use. The 
more we look for occasions of grat- 
itude, the more we exercise the 
power in us of expressing gratitude, 
the less churlish and niggardly 
shall we be in this beautiful grace. 
To be poor in thanks is unworthy 
of the Christian. If we have hith- 
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erto lived below our possibilities in 
this regard, let us take the Word 



and try to count the bright texts and 
shining passages which emphasize 
our relation to God, and praise him 
for his wonderful goodness to the 
children of men. Then may we 
joyfully say : 

** Hitherto the Lord hath blessed us, 
Guiding all the way ; 
Henceforth let us trust him fully, 
Trust him all the day. 
** Hitherto the Lord hath loved us, 
Caring for his own; 
Henceforth let us love him better, 
Live for him alone." 

36 



^xvn 







/?HEN our dear Lord came 



to this earth and took 
•upon him our robe of flesh, he 
brought hither in its fullest mani- 
festation something which the 
world had never known before. ' 
In partial revelation, in glimpses 
and flitting gleams, humanity had 
seen the beautiful spirit of brother- 
hood, but until Christ was born in 
36 





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^nlc^Zi^c /IDusings* 



Bethlehem and God came visibly to 
dwell among us^ there was no abid- 
ing here of that gracious and heav- 
enly spirit. For three and thirty 
years, forever set apart from those 
which preceded and followed them, 
our earth had in its possession the 
One whose veiled divinity was as a 
p .r,, lamp within a shrine, whose gracious 
\^^' words and ways brought healing to 
the body and rehef to the mind, 
who unhesitatingly forgave sins, 
and frequently wrought miracles, 
and whose wonderful pathway from 
the cradle to the cross was watched 
by angels and sown with briers and 
thorns by thankless men. No Yule- 
tide can ever come in the waning 
December days without bringing to 
us freshly the memory and the 
thought of Immanuel's matchless 
37 




Ualfts Between TLimcs. 



i^r<r^ 



"^i 
M 






life. We, the pilgrims of the twen- 
tieth century, take the same road, 
following the Star in the East, to 
the same goal which allured the 
shepherds and the wise men; we 
kneel again beside the Babe in the 
arms of his mother, and we offer him 
gifts, gold and frankincense and 
myrrh. 

A pertinent question comes to us 
as we approach the final weeks of 
the year, and if we are conscientious 
and candid we cannot evade it: 
How have we spent the time ? Has 
it brought us the rewards we craved ? 
Have we so used the talents en- 
trusted to our stewardship that they 
have been increased and multiplied 
at the King's pleasure ? Have our 
homes been happier because we 
have been Christians? Has our 
38 



VV 






v^ 



'§1. 



friendsliip with Christ been a deep 
and real experience pervading our 
actions and making vital our inter- 
est in the conversion of the world? 
What have we done for Jesus ? As 
Christmas approaches there is re- 
newal and quickening of our vows 
and our love, but how beautiful 
would that life be, in which there 
should be uninterruptedly the con- 
sciousness of growth and the joy of 
communion ! 

We have few greater satisfactions 
in our heart life and our home life 
than those which arise from our 
own self-denial that we may make 
our dear ones happy. The gift 
which the mother planned weeks 
ago, for which she economized, on 
which she sewed when the children 
were asleep, is . worth all the love 
39 



S"^-,-^ 



list 



.yP/.)^)^/!-^.^-^<^^^^^^^^J;^^^g 




Ualfts ^Between XTfrnes^ 




that went into its making, and can- 
not be estimated in any mere com- 
mercial way. Reverently I say that 
we plan for our earthly kindred and 
friendS;, but forget the plans and the 
pleasures we might offer at our 
Saviour's feet. Is there no glad- 
ness we may bring to the Elder 
Brother ? Are there no sheaves to 
be garnered for the Heavenly 
Friend? Still he says, ^^ Behold, I 
stand at the door and knock ; " and 
now in the chill winter, when the 
loved ones gather about the hearth 
and the storms are abroad, through 
our gayety and our mirth, through 
the sweetness of the carols and be- 
side the Christmas tree, we hear 
that low, insistent knocking, " Open 
to me, my sister, my spouse, for my 
head is wet with dew and my locks 
40 



L'* \*r!' 






i 



y^-nn: 



Ml 




^^^^r^^^. 



l^ule^Uibe /IDusings* 



with the drops of the night." Shall 
we not haste to unbar the soul's 
door and invite the Master in ? And 
shall we not make our Christmas 
offering to him our crucifixion of 
self, our consecration of the new hfe 
to the new love ? 

My circle of acquaintances in- 
cludes a large number of those who 
have much treasure in heaven. 
Never has the reaper, whose name 
is Death, been busier than of 
late in carrying hence those whom 
the Master needs in his presence- 
chamber above. It is not easy 
to be cheery during a shadowed 
and sorrowful Yule-tide, for the 
general rejoicing emphasizes the 
contrast between what used to be 
and what now is. As Naomi did 
of old, the stricken say, "I went 
41 




XCalfts Between Uimcs. 



out full and I have returned 
empty/' 

There are acts of heroism which 
are never laurelled in an earthly 
court. The woman who bravely 
puts her grief in the background 
that she may not cloud the faces of 
her children, the daughter missing 
her mother^ but taking her place 
smilingly beside the vacant chair, 
the desolate who strives to be ac- 
quiescent in God's will, may each 
claim something of the Christmas 
blessing. They are doing in God's 
strength the best they can, and He 
acknowledges the effort as worthy. 

Somewhere among my readers 
there is a little woman who is far 
from home. Perhaps she is a mis- 
sionary on the frontier ; perhaps she 
has not lately had a letter from her 
42 










own people ; perhaps she has a feel- 
ing that at Yule-tide she is rather 
left out. She looks at her husband, 
and sees him thin and worn and 
weary with the hardships of an ar- 
duous service. Her boys and girls 
look shabby, but she would not 
mind that if they were warmly 
clothed. The baby will hang her 
Christmas stocking up in the corner, 
but the gifts will be very few and 
very simple. A longing sweeps 
over the loyal, loving heart for a 
bit of the old life, for the dinner so 
tempting and so abundant, for the 
surprises of friendship, for the beau- 
tiful old church garlanded with ce- 
dar and pine, for the magnificent 
organ music, for all the charm 
which is commonplace to some of 
us and for which others are home- 
43 




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Ualfts Between Zimcs. 




sick in absence. Only for a little 
while is this mood dominant. Our 
missionary is too strong, too de- 
voted, to indulge it long. But 
could not you and I to such a one 
manage to send of tener than we do 
the largesse of true Christmas cheer 
and the sweetness of assured re- 
membrance ? 

The best thing about the Christ- 
mas gladness is that its spirit and 
essence last so long. The pleasure 
which comes with the Christmas 
tree, and the Christmas carol, and 
the Christmas stockings, is not gone 
with the day; it endures through 
the frost and snow of the rest of the 
winter, and it elevates the family 
life for the rest of the year. 

We shall be wise to withdraw 
from other company, and seek in 
44 



^nlc^Zi^c f^nsinQS. 



these Yule-tide hours to be some- 
times alone with Christ. For though 
he often walks with his disciples in 
the crowds and breaks the Uving 
bread to them when they sit with 
the five thousand^ yet his most 
sacred and intimate companionship 
is vouchsafed to those who enter 
into the closet and shut the door. 
We cannot afford to neglect private 
prayer nor the reading of the Word, 
and it is often a good thing to just 
sit down in the gloaming and think 
over all his loving kindness. 

No one ever does this honestly 
without discovering that every day 
is bright with the Lord's tender 
mercies. Of old^ the widow whose 
barrel was low and her cruse scant, 
found her store miraculously re- 
plenished, so that through a season 
45 



,"^..'^-"' 



»< 



of famine it was sufficient for her 
and her household. When the 
guests at the wedding feast in Cana 
of Gahlee tasted the water that was 
made wine by the Master^ they 
knew that never had they drunk 
such wine at any other feast. Sit- 
ting down and meditating^ making 
amid the world's bustle and haste a 
little clear space where we may be 
stilly we cannot but own that God's 
goodness is evermore flowing round 
our incompleteness^ and his bounty 
making our deserts to blossom as 
the rose. And so — 

We may never doubt his goodness, 
We must ever trust his love ; 

By a cord that cannot sever 

We are bound to our home above. 

Therefore on our daily journey 
Henceforth we will walk by faith, 

Till he gives us fuller vision 
On the other side of death, 

46 




J5ule«UiJ>e /iDusfngs. 



1 




To every Christian family^ to 
every Christian follower^ God sends 
a merry Yule-tide. Under what- 
ever sky, of whatever creed he be, 
the Christian who beheves on the 
Son and trusts in the blood of 
Calvary, and looks forward to the 
day of the Redeemer's kingdom on 
earth, is entitled, not to content, 
merely, but to joy unspeakable in 
all the days. For to him is the 
word, " Lo, I am with you always ! " 




IDacant Cbait 

' There is no flock, however watched and 
tended, 
But one dead lamb is there; 
There is no household, howsoe'er defended, 
But has one vacant chair." 



]HE words of the poet came 
to me freshly as to-day I 



spent an hour in a home which has 
recently been visited by that Angel 
of the Shadow, who leaves so deep 
a darkness when he carries our 

48 



:l" 



darlings away to heaven's fade- 
less light. As always^ the one who 
had been taken seemed the one who 
could least be spared, and who 
must longest be missed. Had the 
sharpened arrow, which never fails 
of its aim, struck anyone else in 
the home group, the others would 
equally have felt that this was the 
stroke most painful, the bereave- 
ment most irreparable. A hush 
had fallen upon the household, 
the parents moved about as if 
weights were on their feet, the 
needful work was done because it 
must be, but the pleasure had gone 
out of it, and it was almost under 
protest that the daily tasks went 
on. Everywhere in the home — at 
the table, in the evening worship, 
in her vacant room — there was a 
4 49 



^^^gg^^ 



Ualfts Between Zimcs, 



sense of lack and emptiness: the 
beloved one was gone ! " Death 
makes a clean sweep/' said the 
mother. " I never realized before 
how utterly changed Hfe can be^ 
because one to whom we are accus- 
tomed at every turn is no Icsiger 
^i^ here. I find myself wakening in 
the morning and sayings ' She will 
return to-day/ and then it all comes 
over me again that she can never 
return." 

No mourner escapes the experi- 
ence of heartache and vain longing 
which follow the tearing away of 
friend or child or kinsman^ and the 
beginning again without the be- 
loved presence. 

And platitudes may be left un- 
spoken^ for they are resented in the 
hour of grief and are often unheard. 



M£ 



tx/) 



50 




Ube Dacant Cbafr* 

A simple handclasp, a tender assur- 
ance of sympathy, and a yielding of 
time and attention to the story 
which the bereaved one tells over 
and over — the story of the last days, 
of the last words and looks — are the 
best consolations which affection 
can offer. Apart from the stricken, 
too, we may intercede for them at 
the Mercy Seat, and help them a 
thousandfold more by our prayers 
in their behalf than by anything we 
can say. It is never wasted time 
that is spent in humble and believ- 
ing prayer for our friends, what- 
ever their necessity. I sometimes 
think that the sweetest message 
ever sent by one friend to another 
is, " I have been moved to pray for 
you by name." So personal and 
so insistent a prayer goes straight 
61 



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mi 



W^^ 



^S^^^IT^m^ 



Ualfts Between Zimcs, 

to the ear of Him who says to his 
disciple^ under any sky, in every 
age, " I have called thee by thy 
name, thou art mine." 

The first shock and sadness of be- 
reavement over, we fortunately are 
compelled to take up our old duties. 
The fire must be kindled in the 
morning, the breakfast cooked, the 
beds made, and the children sent to 
school. Father and the boys must 
be in the counting-room and the 
store as usual, and the daughter 
who teaches must go to her class- 
room, the daughter who is a ste- 
nographer must sit down with her 
note-book as if nobody had ever 
died. Though the face of the 
world is changed for you, the 
world's work and the Lord's must 
go on. And we cannot let the work 
52 



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^ ^"^^ r^ ^^ -^ 


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^^^ 


>*K'v"'^ 




0H 


XM^^^^^^f/^A^ 


llMjWvW] 


fX/.V/^ 


(■ \ 1 r Y 


rYrrkrYY '^ 


W'w' 


yvY^^CMim 


Oifilft 


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1^^ 


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^ 


^*^^^^\\vvL\^ 


f ■:^-^ = 


^^(lij, 


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tCbe IDacant Cbafr* 

suffer, even if our interest in it is 
lessened. For conscience's sake 
we rally our forces and lose our- 
selves in our tasks, and are taken 
temporarily from the atmosphere of 
regret which has the peril of mor- 
bidness into the atmosphere of ac- 
tivity which has the glow of service. 
All of which is in God's name and 
is blessed. 

Suggestions which are not " va- 
cant chaff well meant for grain" 
do come in with the force of sweet 
assurance after a while. A series 
of misfortunes overtakes a family, 
loss of fortune, loss of opportunity, 
change of social position, for ex- 
ample. In a period of swift eco- 
nomic alterations and relentless 
competitions, calamity may befall 
those who have been apparently be- 
53 







Ualfts Between Ufmes. 






yond its reach. We live to see with 
thankfulness and relief that it was 
far better that the mother, the child, 
or the sister, was taken before she 
had known anything of reverse or 
disaster. Even bitterer cups are 
pressed to the lips of those in whose 
household some dear one goes 
astray, some name is by common 
consent dropped out of the daily 
talk. Well for those who were 
summoned hence before this cru- 
cial experience came to the shrink- 
ing and sorrowful circle of the kin- 
dred. 

Looking at the vacant chair which 
is eloquent of a mound, green-turfed 
and flower-sown in the cemetery, 
we may remind ourselves that 
heaven is not so far away from the 
child of God as some dark regions 
64 







of this earth. A while ago there 
were those in this land who realized 
how remote was the Far East^ where 
their missionary friends were ex- 
posed to the hostility of the heath- 
en, where some of them spent their 
last breath under torture^ where 
martyr fires as fierce as those in 
Nero's gardens were lighted at the 
very close of the wonderful nine- 
teenth century. Parents with a 
lovely young daughter, safe in the 
many mansions, felt inexpressibly 
nearer her and much more at rest 
than those who had a child in China 
exposed to nameless horrors. 

Indeed, if we can but appreciate 
it, the other world, the world of 
permanence beyond these shifting 
and passing shadows, is not distant 
from any one of us. A step, a 
55 



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Ualfts Between tlfmes. 





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W. 






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breath, a lifting of the veil, and we W 
may be at home with God. 

'*Here in the body pent, 

Absent from Him I roam, 
But nightly pitch my moving tent 
A day's march nearer home." 

Those who are much in commun- 
ion with heaven ought to take to 
themselves the solace and the joy 
there are in the thought that the 
Lord, to whom they can speak so 
readily, has made the place for their 
absent ones, and that the place is a 
place^ not merely a condition ; and 
that once there, whoever arrives is 
forever free from the limitations of 
the flesh, and forever with the Lord. 

We can do without our sons and 

daughters, when it is for their good 

and happiness here. We send them 

to college J we give them to the 

56 



mmmm 



Zbc Dacant Cbaft* 



business opportunity ; we let them 
go to the ends of the earthy and we 
do not complain. Can we not 
equally^ if Jesus need them, spare 
them to him to serve him, where 
the service is all free from bonds, 
from interruptions and from tears, 
in the Father's house, within the 
Hght that streams from the Elder 
Brother's face ? 

^^ Shall we know each other 
there?" Do Christians really 
doubt the fact that the reunion of 
heaven will include recognition, the 
meeting again of those who have 
been separated, the gathering of all 
the scattered clans ? Is God, who 
gives us daily bread here, so unkind 
a Father that he will offer us a stone 
there ? If there is immortaHty, is 
it to be apart from the sweetness 
57 



m^ 




i 



ife^ 



XCalfts Between Zimcs, 



and sacredness of love ? In '' Rob- 
ert Falconer " the closing sentence 
of the book is this : " The boat went 
down in mid-ocean, and I have not 
yet seen my friend again." Not 
yet, but the day is coming fast when 
the friends shall meet. Is not this 
the implication on the Mount of 
Transfiguration : the saints, who had 
been for centuries in heaven knew 
each other and conversed, and were 
known to Peter, James and John ? 

** Beyond the smiling and the weeping I shall 
be soon," 

says the trustful heart, but it shall 
be where there is " Love, rest and 
home ; " and not love denied, nor 
rest in oblivion, nor home without 
kindred and friends. Thank God 
for the lost who shall be found again 
in the sweet bye and bye ! 
68 



I ■ J M 



Ube Vacant Cbafr^ 



The vacant chair here means 
work dropped^ interests left, chari- 
ties curtailed. Can we not best re- 
member our dear ones by taking 
up the tasks they leave and stand- 
ing in their lot ? A mother whose 
only son was taken from her has 
found great comfort in educating 
the sons of other mothers. A house- 
hold from which a gifted child w^ent 
home, computed what was the cost 
of caring for that child, and annu- 
ally devoted the sum to missions. 
A family from w^hom three little 
ones had been snatched, endowed a 
bed in a child's hospital, so that 
perpetually a sufferer might be 
eased, a life made happier, in mem- 
ory of the dear ones early called 
away. 

A word about the wearing of 
59 



MMJ^ 





Ualfts JBetween Zimcs. 

mourning garments may not be in- 
appropriate. For a time the black or 
somber clothing is in harmony with 
the mood and is a protection in so- 
ciety, as it announces our grief and 
our privilege to be for a while with- 
drawn from our former gayeties 
and allowed to be alone. Thus, to 
a certain extent, a mourning garb 
has its reason for existence, and is 
founded on common-sense as well 
as custom. Heavy veils worn over 
the face are unhygienic, and heavily 
swathing crape is not only costly, 
but unhealthful to the mind, as it 
leads the wearer to absorption in 
her loss, when she should rather 
seek diversion in new activities. 
Mourning should not be worn too 
long, nor should any be blamed who 
prefer not to assume it; as the style 
60 



of dress is a matter for individual 
choice. 

It is fanciful^ perhaps, yet the 
fancy is pleasant, that our guardian 
angels may be those who have gone 
from our midst and who once walked 
with us here. Who knows that in 
some still hour of evening the ab- 
sent and unf orgotten loved one may 
not glide in and sit by our side ? 
In some stress of trial and tempta- 
tion Jesus may send our own to 
strengthen us in the crisis. How- 
ever this may be, if they do not 
come, we shall go to them, and their 
Lord and ours will be with us at the 
last; for has he not promised, ^^I 
will come again and receive you 
unto myself" ? 

The coronation of the future life, 
whatever else its joys and satisfac- 
61 



ii^W^^ 




tions may be, will be that its service 
and its rest alike shall bring us into 
the presence of the Lord, not as 
here in dim vision, but in the fullest 
light. Surely we may leave to him 
every detail of the blessed life. If 
we are with him, and our loved ones 
are with him, there will be no flaw, 
no rift within the lute, no disap- 
pointment. The child we lost years 
ago, may have grown strangely 
beautiful in the heavenly garden, 
but there will be something familiar, 
and love will spring to welcome 
love. Striving in the earthly life 
for likeness to Christ, ever praying 
for the grace of his indwelling, we 
are gradually made meet for the in- 
heritance of the saints in light ; the 
robes we are to wear, it may be, 
are in process of making now. 
62 




Ube Dacant Cbafr* 



Though we hear no whisper from 
the other land^ it may easily be^ 
that where there are none of our 
limitations^ they sometimes know 
our struggles and our hopes^ and 
are glad as we are renewed day by 
day in the image of their Lord and 
ours. 

63 





^be power ^ ^ ^ 
^ ^ ^ of prai^et 

EVER had a prayer an- 
swered in my life ! " The 
speaker was a young woman, and 
her emphasis was a sign of bitter- 
ness. It was evident to her friend 
that she had a wrong conception of 
prayer, and hmited it to an apphca- 
tion to God for things which she 
wanted — ^material things, or those 
which had to do with the exter- 
64 










mn 




Zbc iPower of praper^ 




nals of lif 8^ rather than with the de- 
velopment of character^ and with 
the experience of the spiritual part 
of her being. But the friend was 
wise and patient^ and the years had 
taught her much^ so she expressed 
no surprise at Miss Bettina's state- 
mentj and merely asked^ 

" For what have you prayed, my 
dear?" 

'' Oh, for a great many different 
things, Aunt Kate." The friend 
was called Aunt Kate by a number 
of young people who loved her, 
though she was really not of their 
kin. 

'^ Tell me some of them, please." 

^^I prayed that Hugh might be 

able to go to college; that God 

would open up a way after father 

lost his money. But though I 

6 65 



m 



Ualks Between Uimcs. 



prayed for this, which was surely 
right and unselfish, for six months, 
no way was found, and Hugh had 
to go into business — Hugh, who is 
so scholarly and so clever. He has 
had no chance beyond any common- 
place lad with half his brains. Then 
I prayed that dear mother might 
recover from her illness and be 
spared to us, but she steadily grew 
worse, and was taken away. I 
prayed that we might be able to 
keep our home ; it had to be sold. 
I prayed that I might get a position 
in the seminary where I had studied, 
but it was given to Elsie Dunn, who 
did not need it, and I am teaching 
in a free kindergarten at a much 
smaller salary than she receives. 
So now I've stopped praying. I 



say 



Our 



heaven' and 



Ube power ot iPraser* 



^Now I lay me/ but I don't carry 
any more wishes to God, for it is of 
no use." 

Aunt Kate looked wistfully at 
the fair head, bent over the needle- 
work that Bettina did at odd times, 
and sold for whatever it would 
bring. Bettina' s lot had been a 
hard one for several years, its trials 
aggravated by a rebellious disposi- 
tion. She had not yet learned to 
rest in the will of the Lord, nor to 
tarry for his leisure. 

^^Dear child," said the lady 
presently, '' you have never had the 
illumination of the Spirit on this 
matter of prayer. You have fancied 
that you knew what was best, and 
that you could dictate to God. You 
have supposed that it was enough 
that some course seemed desirable 
67 



ix Ualfts JSetvvcen XTimes* 



%:l: 



to you, not that the Lord knew 
what was most for your advantage. 
I fear you have altogether omitted 
from your prayers, ^Thy will be 
done.' 

"1 was a girl once, as eager, as 
wilful, as intense as you are now ; 
I, too, set my heart on gifts that I 
longed for, and fretted when they 
were withheld or denied. 

"I have lived to know that a 
wiser hand than mine has guided 
my life, and that I have never had 
a prayer which was unanswered. 
But God may answer ' No ' as well as 
' Yes.' You have to say ^ No ' to the 
wee tots in the kindergarten when 
they ask for favors which would 
not be good for them. I can truly 
say as I look back over the years 
of my pilgrim way that God has 
68 



1 




trbe Ipower of iPrai^er. 




\% 



always chosen the very best things 
for his child. My favorite song is, 

*' ' I know not the way I am going, 
But well do I know my Guide. 
With a childlike faith I hold the hand 
Of the mighty Friend at my side.' 

"Look, Bettina, at yourself/' 
Aunt Kate continued ; " you desired 
that Hugh should go to college. 
Had the boy himself desired it as 
earnestly as you did, had he been 
wilhng to defer the period of help- 
ing his father in a sore strait, he 
might have gone. There are col- 
leges which cost nothing, or very 
little in fees, and the boy could have 
worked his way through. God gave 
him the clearer vision, the truer 
manliness. He is developing splen- 
didly in the business office, and good 
men are needed there. The dear 
mother was left with you until her 
69 





Ualfts Between tCimes, 



children were grown up, then she 
was taken to rest and peace and 
perfect health, and she left you with 
a joyful light in her face. About 
the loss of fortune, of the familiar 
home, and the failure to secure the 
place you hoped for, I can see that 
these were trials ; but God may 
know that you needed this disci- 
pline, to make you more sympa- 
thetic with others in trouble, and 
to fit you for higher work by and 
by. I think your great mistake has 
been that you narrowed the mean- 
ing of the previous words, ' Ask and 
ye shall receive,' ' Seek and ye shall 
find,' ' Knock and it shall be opened 
unto you,' to the lower needs of the 
day. ^Your Father knoweth ye 
have need of these things, before 
ye ask him/ and, dear girl, it is his 
70 



Ubc power of prater* 






good pleasure to give you the king- 
dom." 

" I wish I knew precisely what 
that means/' said Bettina, wistfully. 

" Perhaps I can explain. At an- 
other time Jesus said, ^The king- 
dom of heaven is within you.' I 
think that when once a soul accepts 
the divine will as final and as best, 
and communes with God in submis- 
sion to that will, there is no more 
agitation. There may be sorrow, 
there may be pain, but on the rock 
of the Lord's will, the aching head 
lies as on a soft pillow, and the weary 
disciple gains courage and new hope, 
and picks up his load and goes on. 
Every interruption then becomes a 
token of the Lord's constant care, 
and life goes on, as under the Cap- 
tain's eye. 

71 




Ualfts 3Between Zimcs. 




** * Dear Comforter, Eternal Love, 
If thou wilt stay with me, 
Of lowly thoughts and simple ways 
I'll build a nest for thee.' " 

" If the Prince of heaven abides 
in a human soul^ then the kingdom 
of heaven must be there." 

" What do you think it is right 
to pray for^ Aunt Kate ? " 

^^In nothing be anxious^ but in 
everything^ by prayer and suppHca- 
tion^ make your requests known 
unto God." 

" But with a reservation ? " 

^^With no reservation^ except 
that of our Lord himself^ ' Thy will 
be done.' I think^ dear heart, that 
prayer need not be only asking some 
boon from the Lord : it may be com- 
posed of praise, of telling him our 
love, and of waiting for him to be 
gracious to us. Those who are often 
72 





r^'f J 



XTbe power of ©raser 




at the mercy seat are aware of times 
when they feel the presence of the 
Lord, and are sure of his brooding 
over them, as the bird over her 
young. They are, it may be, silent 
before him, they have not many 
words, but their want is their plea, 
and when they go out into the world 
from the place of prayer, they go 
with power to help others, with the 
Spirit of the Lord filling them and 
enabling them to conquer in the 
battle with evil. These men and 
women become the Great-hearts and 
the Valiants-for-truth of the world." 
Bettina's gray eyes grew soft with 
tears. This was an ideal of the 
prayer-life which she had not before 
perceived. She felt that she had 
known little of what the Master had 
to bestow, because she had not 
73 



XTalfts JBetween XTimes* 



sought himself^ being anxious only 
for his gifts. Her friend took her 
hand tenderly, and said, 

" Sometimes we ask and receive 
not, because we ask amiss. Said 
one of old, ' If I regard iniquity in 
my heart, the Lord will not hear 
me.' Can one who is only looking 
for the perishing dross of this world 
expect to have any better fate than 
Bunyan's man with the muck-rake, 
who heaped up worthless rubbish, 
and never saw the crown that he 
might have had, glittering above 
him? 

" And then we must not overlook 
the wide field of intercessory prayer. 
When we are in sympathy with 
Jesus, we are intensely filled with 
a desire that those who are wander- 
ing outside the fold may be brought 
74 






Zbc power ot prater* 




into its safety and shelter. We 
think of our acquaintances and our 
relatives, and we beg that they may 
be saved. Time passes swiftly as 
we pray that definite and positive 
blessings may come to individual 
lives. Rising into a still higher 
and purer altitude, we pray for 
the conversion of the whole world, 
for tribes and nations that now 
worship false gods, for the Hindoo, 
the Chinese, the Indian, the Afri- 
can, for the idolater wherever he 
may grope in the mists and fogs 
of his absence from God. We 
pray for the prisoner, for the 
tramp, for the enemy of good, that 
he may be changed and redeemed. 
When we read the Bible, we read 
it with new light on its pages; 
and whether we pray in our closets, 
75 



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XCalfts Between ICimes* 



feA>--^ 



or with others, we are sure that we 
are heard. 

" And, Bettina, we go to the pray- 
er-meeting, and carry our vase of 
perfume with us to be broken there 
at the feet of our Master. We al- 
ways get good at the little meeting, 
no matter whether it be quiet and 
restrained, or whether a number 
speak and pray. If there are but 
two or three assembled there, the 
Lord is in their midst. 

"People make great mistakes 
who shut themselves up in a shell, 
and avoid the company of Christian 
disciples. The stick that burns 
singly makes a wee bit of flame ; 
several sticks piled and kindled to- 
gether blaze brightly and freely on 
the hearth." 

" The more one goes to prayer- 
76 



Zhc power of prai^er* 



V. 



meeting/' said Bettina^ '^ the more 
I observe one likes to go. I think 
I shall ask you to take me oftener 
under your wing hereafter, on the 
mid-week evening." 

Aunt Kate kissed the dimpled 
cheek. "The day will come, my 
dear/' she said, "when, if you fol- 
low on, you will know many sweet 
things, and gather many fragrant 
flowers in the garden of the Lord." 

Aunt Kate said no more, but these 
thoughts came to me, a silent lis- 
tener to the long talk. 

It belongs to youth to be impa- 
tient. As we go on in the Christian 
life and reach the higher levels of 
maturity, we learn to wait; we 
realize that we cannot have every- 
thing we desire at once and with- 
out delay. And we grow into a 
77 



v.: 



^/il-r. 



^XX^^ 



XTalfts Between Uimcs, 

fuller appreciation of God's ability 
to care for us. We go to him, as 
weak and dependent as little chil- 
dren, and we come not empty away. 

** Whatever we lack, whatever we crave, 
We reach out our hands, we lift our cry, 
And all in an instant, strong to save, 
Jesus of Nazareth passe th by." 

There is much in being always in 
the attitude of waiting upon God. 
In the beautiful life history of 
^' Brother Lawrence/ ' a simple monk, 
who practiced constantly the habit 
of living consciously in the divine 
presence, we see that even the little 
things of the hour, the small losses, 
the petty disappointments, may be- 
come means of grace. Such dwell- 
ing with the Father ennobles life, 
makes impossible the low motive, 
shames our cowardice, and helps us 
78 



^ * »^ » 



XTbe power ot prater* 



to look ever toward the land be- 
yond. None who thus live in the 
spirit of true prayer ever miss the 
beatitude which is the inheritance 
of the pure in heart, for through 
shadow and shine, it is theirs to see 
God. 

** still with thee, O my God, 

I would desire to be. 
By day, by night, at home, abroad, 

I would be still with thee. 

** With thee, amid the crowd 
That throngs the busy mart. 
To hear thy voice, ' mid clamor loud, 
Speak softly to my heart." 

79 



& 



^ H ^ 
plain Statement 



I 



^N the flush of the sweet Spring 
blossoming, in a world full 
of music and fragrance, there are 
those who move our pity. Those 
whom we are fain to help if we can. 
The people most in need of com- 
passion, and of assistance as well, 
are not those who have too much 
to do, or too little money, or too 
many cares, not even those who 
80 






^?^l"f^o 







have to live with the difficult-tem- 
pered and the uncongenial. These 
know their own hours of trial, but 
the pressure comes to them from 
the outside^ and it can be borne. 
Anything which in its nature be- 
longs to the objective world, from a 
pin-prick to a bayonet-thrust, can 
be endured with more or less forti- 
tude. The really unhappy persons 
who need commiseration are found 
in the ranks of the difficult and ill- 
assorted, of those whose habits of 
mind are tempestuous and uncertain, 
who have never learned the ordered 
beauty of composure, and who vex 
their acquaintances because their in- 
ner moods are full of vexation. A 
homely phrase says that they have 
the black dog on their back. Heaven 
help the victims of the black dog ! 
6 81 



^^:=^^^^^:=^;^^J^^ 



XTalfts ^Between Zimts. 



They are sour and surly and morose 
at hearty and therefore they are 
grim and curt and uncivil of speech 
and act. Because their souls are 
hke dungeons^ never warmed by the 
sunlight^ they scatter gloom wher- 
ever they go ; children run from 
them^ and animals scuttle away out 
of their sight. A home ruled by 
one of these unfortunates is next 
neighbor to a mad house^ and yet 
the most wretched being within the 
sphere of that home is the one who 
sways its sceptre. For we may es- 
cape from any despotism under the 
stars^ except the tyranny which 
comes from within. Man or wo- 
man dominated by an evil spirit has 
hard work to get away from self. 
The Ego has a most tremendous 
power, and is capable of indefinite 
82 



I 'In 



a plafn Statement 



resistance^ if set in the wrong direc- 
tion. A little child, scowling and 
petulant, is sometimes aware that 
its fit of sulks has set it outside of 
the merriment of the playground, 
and it mopes in the corner until it 
is able to throw off the badgering 
demon of crossness ; but when the 
playground is the broad arena of 
grown-up life, and the companions 
are friends and relations and busi- 
ness associates, and the mature in- 
dividual is a chronic victim of ill- 
temper and contrariness, the case is 
a thousand times worse. 

For, remember this, dear sufferer, 
harassed and worried and perturbed 
human being that you are, the fight 
which you wage is not against mere 
flesh and blood, nor against stone 
barricades and castle walls, nor yet 
: 83 



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against any solid foe which hits 
back and engages in straightforward 
combat^ but against a fog, a vapor, 
the stealthy and creeping fiend, de- 
pression, against the intangible and 
receding and returning and infinitely 
various capacity for vague and des- 
perate discouragement, in that curi- 
ous piece of century-old building, 
your own life. If once you recog- 
nize this fact you are proof against 
despair. You may oppose the black 
dog, and gain the victory ; but to 
do so, you must make a brave stand 
and put up a good fight. 

The strife will be with what the 
Scripture calls principalities and 
powers, legions of adversaries, 
headed by Satan. Envy, jealousy, 
cowardice, inertia, in turn march 
upon the soul, when it is given over 
84 




a ©lain Statement 

to low and selfish tempers and weak 
moods of vacillation and doubt. In 
one's own poor strength there is 
little hope of victory; but, thank 
God, none of His children need 
ever fight alone. The weapon All- 
prayer is potential, and with God 
on his side, any soldier may say, 
" Eejoice not over me, mine enemy ; 
though I fall, I shall arise again ! '* 
It is the part of discretion, when 
one observes deterioration in her- 
self — if perhaps it is a wife and 
mother who is finding it increas- 
ingly hard to be patient and col- 
lected and calm — to seek the cause 
of the trouble. The body is often 
responsible for the ills of the mind. 
Nerves on edge for want of sleep, 
too much drudgery in the kitchen, 
too much work in the church, too 
85 



Ualfts Between Uimes. 






much society, too great a strain, 
may be to blame for the sharp tone 
and the cross word. You scold the 
children because you are worn out. 
You give your husband a cold an- 
swer because the tears are not very 
far from your eyes. 

Eest as often as possible, taking a 
tonic by going out of the house 
into the May sunshine. Never 
mind the work. Whether the win- 
dows are washed to-day and the 
sweeping is done, is of little mo- 
ment ; the thing which really mat- 
ters is that you should be equable, 
cheerful, and able to overcome 
temptation. 

From those who have preceded 
us on the stage we inherit tenden- 
cies which have a good deal to do 
with our buoyancy of feeling on 
86 



a IPlafn Statement 



our burdened paths. A grandfather 
may have bequeathed his love of 
argument and his impatience with 
contradiction; a grandmother^ her 
gentle melancholy and her lack of 
spring and rebound. But modern 
science has shown us that we need 
never yield to these handicaps ; we 
may assert our independence, and 
successfully vanquish them. Be- 
cause there is consumption in the 
family, is no longer a reason that 
any newcomer in its Hne should 
suffer from the malady, or die of its 
poison. For both physical and 
mental disabilities there are reme- 
dies easily available, and they should 
be sought. 

Besides, there is abundant con- 
solation for everyone who honestly 
endeavors to overcome any sin, any 
8T 



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i 




Ualfts Between Xtimes* 




shame, any black shadow which ap- 
proaches him with menace and fore- 
boding. Looking unto Jesus, we 
may find strength and courage, and 
grace for the day. 

The question arises, why the 
Christian, with the Master ever 
ready and able to uphft, should not 
always lead the blessed life of im- 
munity from the attacks of ill tem- 
per and sadness. Here, let a dis- 
tinction be made and kept clearly 
in view, between the sadness which 
is grief over real loss and bereave- 
ment, and the sadness which is sim- 
ply the expression of defeat and 
discontent. 

To no query is there an answer 
more easily found. The Christian 
fails to look unto Jesus, as an habit- 
ual act of living; prayer is occa- 
88 




§^?^^^^^^ss 



H plain Statement 




sional, not constant, sporadic, not 
periodical. It is sometimes a mere 
rite, not a genuine cry from the 
depths to One Who is able to save. 
Looking unto Jesus is more than 
prayer. It is also taking pains to 
live as we pray. 

When it occurs to any one, as by 
a swift intuition, that in his or her 
daily conduct there is a faUing be- 
low the noble ideal, it is time to 
make a determined effort to do bet- 
ter. The revelation is often very 
sudden. Sometimes it is over- 
whelming. It is as though one had 
stepped into a room and caught a 
glimpse of his true personality in a 
crystal mirror. A glance inter- 
cepted, the frank comment of a 
child, the evident attempt of a com- 
panion to concihate, or not to give 
89 



%M 



^^^^E^^^^^^^^^^^-^r::^^^;^. 



.V 



Ualfts JBetween XTimes* 




offence, are like the lifting of a cur- 
tain — we see ourselves as others see 
us. This is very humiliating, if we 
are going on in a course of obsti- 
nacy, or unreason, or thoughtless 
caprices, careless what pain we inflict 
upon our friends and home people. 
But a more healing pain comes, if 
in some candid moment, we see 
ourselves as God sees us. Then we 
are shown not only that view, but 
something of the ineffable pity, the 
Divine tenderness of our blessed 
Lord, and, looking unto Him, we 
are able to put on a little of his na- 
ture. 

Christ can make us over. He is do- 
ing it every day, all round the globe, 
for hundreds and thousands of his 
disciples. We must stop fretting 
because those with whom we live 
90 



H plain Statement 



and the circumstances of our lives, 
and the embarrassments and per- 
plexities of our conditions, are 
arousing antagonism, and, simply, 
sweetly, like little chileren, we 
must take from the hand that was 
pierced for us its white gift of 
peace. " The kingdom of heaven 
is within you," said the Master long 
ago. If we believe this, and look 
to the right source for its serene 
establishment, we shall be from our 
^^treacherous selves set free," and 
shall become lovely and blessed in 
our lives. 

There are good people who con- 
tinually do kind things in an unkind 
manner; they allow their good to 
be evil spoken of. There are hon- 
orable people who pay their debts 
to the uttermost farthing, yet who 
91 






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Ualfts Between Uimes* 




are crusty, brusque, and vindictive^ 
easily affronted, and not easily ap- 
peased. They too need to look ever 
unto Jesus, that on their white robes 
as they walk through the earth 
there may be neither spot nor stain. 
When we show kindness, let us do it 
graciously. When we speak the 
truth, let us speak it in love. As we 
pass this way but once, our home 
lives, our companionship with others, 
our whole intercourse and contact in 
the world of men, should be broth- 
erly, elevating and keyed to the 
love-notes of the gospel. Then, no- 
body would have opportunity to 
pity us, but we should go joyfully 
on the way, climbing higher and 
higher, growing more like Christ, 
and at last entering with acclama- 
tion into the halls where the unend- 
92 






H Iplafn Statement 



ing festival takes place in the pres- 
ence of the King. 

*' Would you lose your load of sin? 
Fix your eyes on Jesus. 
Would you know God's peace within? 
Fix your eyes on Jesus. 

" Would you have your cares grow light ? 
Fix your eyes on Jesus. 
Would you songs have in the night? 
Fix your eyes on Jesus. 

** Grieving, would you comfort know? 
Fix your eyes on Jesus, 
See a light beyond the grave? 
Fix your eyes on Jesus." 

A good man said to his wif e^ who 
was complaining that she was tried 
beyond bearing by some persons 
with whom she had relations in her 
daily lif e^ " My dear, you are not 
taking the right view of this matter. 
You are forgetting that these peo- 
ple are giving you a great deal of 
help in developing the finer quali- 
93 




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Ualfts Between Uimes. 

ties of your character. You are 
sweeter^ more self-restrained and 
nobler^ through the exercise of tact^ 
tenderness and unselfishness to 
them. You ought to thank God 
that He has given you just this dis- 
cipline." 

This may not occur to us when 
we are in process of being moulded 
by what seem the blows of adver- 
sity, but it is nevertheless a fair 
presentation of the case. Only we 
must not let it drift in to complac- 
ency, nor pliune ourselves on our 
superior deportment, our greater 
spirituality. '' Let him that think- 
eth he standeth, take heed lest he 
fall." 

Dearly beloved, let us love one 
another. Let us love the hateful 
till we vanquish their hate. Let us 
94 



)M7 Kllji/f-m^ 



^^^^^^^B 



H plain Statement 



love the unkind till they learn a 
better way. Let us imitate our 
Father in heaven^ and treat with 
gracious consideration the unthank- 
ful and the evil. 

Could we go to the beginning, we 
should discover that many of the 
people who are most unreasonable 
and annoying were originally badly 
started. They were not born into 
the sweetness of the kingdom. They 
must be converted, or they will 
never be sweet. One of the fullest 
joys of the future life and home of 
the saints will be in the companion- 
ship forever of men and women who 
have no meannesses, no crabbed 
tempers, no infirmities of will. They 
will have left all these behind them, 
and will then be always and only 
and continually Christ-like. 
95 



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The conscientious keeping of rest 
days, and especially of the Sabbath, 
will do much to assist nervous and 
easily irritated people from yielding 
to temptation. When the Lord made 
the provision for resting one day in 
the seven, he had in mind the needs 
of his creatures. To man and beast 
the Sabbath comes with a gift in its 
hand, a gift of healing and refresh- 
ment. In our day, there is to be 
deplored an increasing tendency to 
invade the Sabbath with secular 
work and secular amusements. As 
never before, society encroaches on 
the hallowed time, and Christian 
people yield to its demands. While 
this continues, nervous break-downs 
must be numerous, for the Sabbath 
rest is imperative for the physical 
as well as for the spiritual life. 
96 






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XTbe flDotber ^ ^ 



^ ^ in Met Home 




lOTHERS have not the mo- 
nopoly in child training. 



Fathers equally mould their sons 
and daughters ; equally exert an 
influence on their upbringing. But 
the mother is in the home^ is there 
when the children go to school 
and to play^ welcomes them when . 
they return from outdoor life to 
the shelter of the roof^ and, in a 
98 



Zbc /IDotber in Met IHome* 

sense, makes their environment and 
colors their atmosphere. All day 
the father is at his office or in the 
fields, or somewhere else at work, 
and it is the mother who in the 
beginning of Hfe gives childhood 
its daily bread of sweetness, its 
cheer, and delight. You hear the 
rush of the school boy's feet as he 
hurries back home when tasks are 
over for the afternoon ; he calls 
" Mother " from the foot of the 
stair way and is content if she 
answers, " Yes, my dear ; Mother 
is here/' The daughter has her 
confidences to pour into the ma- 
ternal ear. No other friend is so 
safe, so wise, and so sympathetic. 
"A house in which there is no brood- 
ing mother wing, no tender mother 
presence, is a very lonesome house, 

99 
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XTalUs Between Uimes* 




shadowed and chilly^ and bereft of 
joy. 

Mothers are not often derehct in 
performing the obvious duties which 
they owe to their children. The 
food is wholesome^ abundant, and 
daintily served, the beds are soft 
and smooth, the clothing is neat and 
in good repair. By precept and 
example the mother inculcates po- 
^ lite manners, the grace of the pleas- 
ant salutation at morning and eve- 
ning, the hfted hat when the lad 
meets a friend, the yielded chair to 
weakness or old age, and the many 
little courtesies which show the dif- 
ference between the gently bred 
person and the boor. Table man- 
ners are not overlooked, for the 
mother is aware that all their lives 
her children will be handicapped if 
100 



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UM /iDotber in mer Iftomc* 



they do not bring ease and decorum 
and acquaintance with convention- 
ahties to the board, whether their 
own, or that of a friend. Boorish 
manners at a dinner table dis- 
figure a statesman, and clownish 
rudeness disgraces a genius, yet 
both genius and statesman may 
owe their clumsiness to neglect in 
childish years. 

Yet the mother in her home has 
higher obligations to her children 
than those included in attention to 
the common things which we take 
for granted as incumbent upon de- 
cent people. More than this is de- 
manded of every woman whose boys 
and girls are growing beneath her 
hand into a youth which must be 
pure and strong, and armed against 
the assaults of the evil one, into a 
101 



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maturity when the affairs of the 
race shall be in their care. 

Many mothers shrink from ac- 
quainting their children with facts 
and perils which in the due order 
of their days may spring upon them, 
and either weakly ignore a whole 
set of possible conditions^ or prefer 
for their young people the protec- 
tion of ignorance to the protection 
of knowledge. If ignorance and 
innocence were synonymous terms, 
modesty and refinement a complete 
defence against curiosity and coarse- 
ness, and if the mother could sur- 
round her children as with a wall 
of fire, from association with those 
who might injure, and from contact 
with what might prove debasing, 
then silence on her part would be 
right and fitting. This she cannot 
102 



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XCbe /iDotbet in mer atome* 



do, nor is the most entire uncon- 
sciousness of evil equivalent to a 
panoply against it and its stealthy 
approaches. In the warfare which 
we all must wage, we fight not only 
against flesh and blood, but against 
principahties and powers, against 
foes whom we do not apprehend be- 
cause they are cloaked in garments 
of invisibility. The great enemy 
of souls has his emissaries ever on 
the alert, and many a thought of 
ill, a suggestion from the outside 
where his legions roam, comes to a 
young heart. Also, on every side 
there are dangers in the hne of bad 
books, in the depravity openly de- 
scribed in the newspapers and open- 
ly discussed in the family, as when 
some sensational crime shocks the 
community and for a few days is 
103 



^t<'^. 









Ualfts Between 'ITimes^ 

the staple of comment in the streets 
and in the home. The parent who 
blushes to converse in low tones 
and in privacy, and with prayer, 
about the duties of purity and faith- 
fulness which a boy owes to him- 
self, is often most heedless in talk- 
ing over in the boy's presence the 
heartrending stories which fre- 
quently occupy large space in the 
daily press. 

The truth is that we are much 
too apt to survey the characteristics 
of our physical nature from a wrong 
point of view. When the baby 
comes into the home, a gift from 
God, if there are there young peo- 
ple approaching adolescence, they 
should have been so taught and 
trained that their mother in their 
eyes, in her dignity of anticipation, 
104 




:r<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^:^^^Tr^^irrr7^ 



Ube ^otber in 5lier ISiome* 



should have been more than ever 
sacred. All the tenderness of girl- 
hood, all the chivalry of boyhood, 
might be awakened, and would be, 
if the coming happiness were not 
often regarded as if it were a ca- 
lamity to be huddled out of sight 
and not so much as suspected, till 
the little one's first cry breaks the 
spell. 

I am not pleading for, nor rec- 
ommending on the part of parents, 
any dwelling upon a side of life 
which by common consent is not 
talked about openly in society. 
What I urge is that boys and girls 
alike shall be made acquainted with 
the laws of their own bodies, not 
by other boys and girls, or by 
prjdng and vulgar curiosity, but 
delicately, thoughtfully and once 
105 




Ualfts Between Uimes* 



for all by their fathers and mothers. 
The time for revelations must vary 
according to circmnstances^ and be 
regulated by the development and 
the differing characters of children. 

A mother should train her son as 
sternly in purity and warn him as 
earnestly against infractions of the 
moral law, as she trains and warns 
her daughter. The obligation is 
not more imperative in the one case 
than the other. Pure men are as 
essential to the common weal of 
human society as pure women. 
There cannot be one law for the 
youth and another for the maiden, 
and both, precisely as susceptible 
the one as the other, are given by 
God to the vigilance, the discretion, 
and the fidelity of parents. 

Still another and a quite opposite 
106 



Ube /iDotber in Met atome* 



avenue of influence is open to the 
mother in the home. We Uve in 
an age when people largely do as 
they please about the outward ob- 
servances of religion. Children are 
conspicuously absent from church 
services. Their attendance upon 
the Sunday School is supposed to 
absolve them from sitting in the 
pew. They prefer occasionally a 
separate church from their parents ; 
they Hke another preacher, or are 
anxious to go where their compan- 
ions do, or they drift about from 
church to church. Thousands of 
children in Christian households 
are practically non- church -goers, 
forming no habit of worship to hold 
them as with grips of steel in later 
years. We need go no farther than 
this to discover the reason for the 
107 



Ualfts Between XTimes. 

widespread and increasing desecra- 
tion of the Sabbath, for the Sunday 
golf, tennis and tea-drinking in 
summer resorts and country homes, 
for the social use of Sunday as a 
day of visiting and receiving in 
town life, and for the opening of 
public expositions to paying visit- 
ors on Sunday. It is because we 
are degenerating in our homes, and 
leaving God out, and bringing up 
our children without much refer- 
ence to Him, that Americans are 
losing their old character of a Sab- 
bath-keeping people. The boys of 
to-day will be the men of to-morrow ; 
the girls of to-day will be the 
women of the next generation. 

The mother and father — for here 
they may walk hand in hand — who 
are as solicitous that their children 
108 



^ ^riMTr^:i/iiwiy)^M 



Ubc /iDotbec In Mer IHome* 



shall be regularly in the pew as in 
their seats in the schoolroom^ will 
so bring up their children that they 
may fear God and keep His com- 
mandments. 

I commend to the mother in her 
home the keeping herself very 
close to her Saviour. If her whole 
soul is full of the sunlight of His 
presence, if she have the Christ- 
love and the Christ-life in her heart 
and in her face, she will certainly 
win her dear ones to the shelter 
and refuge which are so precious to 
her. It is the mother's highest 
duty and dearest privilege by ex- 
ample and precept and ceaseless 
prayer to lead her little flock into 
the fold of the Good Shepherd. 

Mothers, do not be chary of dem- 
onstration and petting to your big 
109 




:/lk)'l)'\jy:^i 






.V 



Ualfts ^Between XTimes* 

boys. It is not necessary to remind 
you to caress the babies ; you very 
likely do that to an extent detri- 
mental to little beings who should 
be let alone^ to grow^ to be quiet, 
to be at peace. As the boy^ reach- 
ing out of childhood's grace^ pushes 
his awkward limbs into tallness, as 
his hands and feet grow big and in 
his way^ he is very much in need 
of the confidence which his mother's 
company and her tenderness will 
give. Love never hurts boy or girl, 
though weak indulgence and foolish 
vacillation may. 

Whatever else is crowded out, the 
mother must have time for her chil- 
dren, time to be their comrade, to 
be their confidante, their friend, and 
their guide. Frocks may be very 
simple, meals need not be elaborate, 
110 



^^^^^^^^^^^ 



tlbe /iDotber in Mer IHome. 



m 



but the home and the mother must 
be cheery and bright. The tactful 
mother will put her children first, 
and give them everywhere the prec- 
edence, yet in such a way that 
they shall not be obtruded at the 
wrong times, nor attention to their 
wishes and questions cause neglect 
of the old, of visiting friends, or of 
other affairs. 

A word may not be amiss con- 
cerning the relation of the mother 
in her home to her grown-up sons 
and daughters. Business will nat- 
urally take the young men away 
from her by day, and they will have 
their engagements for the evening, 
so that, if they sire moral and up- 
right, worthy members of the fam- 
ily and the community, there will 
be little clashing of their interests 
111 



•/ N J vv I y VV A / -Y '^v ' \ I / if -Y / 



■■ f^ K Uy^-f/r^2jFk<^ ' Uyi^^^'^^^z:S-:^^^:^r^ 




Ualhs Between Uimes^ 





in the household. The mother will 
slip into easy grooves of friendship 
with them^ and they will defer to 
her, consult her, and do all they can 
to give her pleasure. Grown-up 
daughters, who are so situated that 
they remain at home and do not 
earn their own livelihood, sometimes 
suffer and cause their mother to 
suffer from the antagonism of wills, 
and from friction over petty annoy- 
ances. Mothers may be in the 
wrong in maintaining authority over 
grown-up daughters, who have 
passed the age of childhood and de- 
pendence. Girls may be forgetful 
of the respect and attention they 
owe their mother. The position is 
not an easy one, and there is room 
even in an ideal home for the use 
of the two old words, bear and for- 
112 




CQ' 



XCbe /iDotber in Mer IHome^ 



bear. If the mother have sufficient 
means, she should give her grown 
daughter a regular allowance and 
not interfere unnecessarily with her 
manner of spending it. She should 
accord to her, as to another woman, 
a certain amount of liberty in her 
comings and goings ; she should be 
allowed to make her own engage- 
ments, and pursue her own studies, 
and take up her own charities. 
Loving counsel may be freely given, 
but there should not be opposition 
to any line that is in itself reason- 
able. 

Most women prefer to hold tiie 
reins of the household management 
as long as they can ; they do not 
care to abdicate while they are well 
and strong, and it is not agreeable 
to them to resign the cares of hous^- 
8 113 







•'/:■■' 



keeping to the younger hands of 
their daughters. Those hands seem 
to them inexperienced and incom- 
petent. When a mother does de- 
termine to do this, she should give 
her daughter a clear field, and really 
leave the responsibilities with her, 
contented to take a place of luxuri- 
ous restfulness. Now having done 
this, she may be a true empress 
dowager, with the honors, but with- 
out the burdens of earlier days. 
She may go about to different 
places, secure that her home will 
not need her presence. Her sphere 
of influence may be broadened, and 
an Indian Summer of repose add 
years to her life. 

The very sweetest time of all 
comes to the mother, when she has 
silver hair, and may go about, a 
114 



^•^iW^J^s 



^1 



Ube /iDotber in ater Momc. 



welcome and privileged guest, 
among her married children, the 
pride of their homes and the best 
friend of their children. Let her 
not, unless other arrangement is 
impracticable, take up her perma- 
nent abode with married son or 
daughter. It is always better that 
they should go home to see mother, 
estabhshed in a home of her own, 
than that mother should go to live 
with any of her children. To her 
latest day, it is best that mother 
should be where she has been in her 
earlier years, her own mistress in 
her own house. 

115 



^ ®ur Cbilbren ^ 



MONCE knew a father^ a man 
of high official position^ wide 
culture and keen intellect^ who, 
where his children were concerned, 
appeared to have left discretion be- 
hind him. At the table, guests were 
allowed to wait, while the children 
were helped first. The boys and 
girls were encouraged to converse 
freely with their parents and with 
116 



yi^jLrTl^ 



©ur Cbilbrem 



visitors ; but this^ which was right, 
was not enough; they were per- 
mitted to rush in and out of the draw- 
ing-room at will^ noisily interrupt- 
ing older people^ asking questions 
and dinning their mother's ears with 
their comments, without the least 
reference to others. Thus they 
were given to understand by pre- 
cept and example that the household 
existed for them and that theirs was 
the right of way. In consequence 
the haK dozen sturdy httle folk ar- 
rived at adolescence, rude, boorish, 
and undisciplined, as disagreeable a 
set of young people as could be found 
anywhere ; and before they could 
overcome the conspicuously mis- 
taken course of their childhood and 
achieve the manners which ought 
to have been theirs by inheritance 
117 



Ualfts Between Ufmes. 



'/:■'■ 



and training, life must have taught 
them many bitter lessons. Sharp 
are the buffets of experience^ and 
hmniliating is the position of those 
who must acquire with difficulty in 
maturity what may be learned with 
ease in childnood. 

The father's point of view exag- 
gerated not the real but the relative 
importance of childhood. Loving 
his children very tenderly, he yet 
did not love them wisely. He did 
not hesitate to say, " My life is spent 
in labor for my sons and daughters. 
My name revolves around them. 
They come first, and they shall have 
an unclouded childhood, if I can give 
it to them." As a farmer's lad in a 
sternly ordered Puritan household, 
this man had endured hardness, and, 
looking back on a dreary waste of 
118 



©ur CbflDren* 






^3 



M 



orphanage and severity, a loveless 
and dependent period from which 
he had emerged by sheer pluck and 
perseverance, he was unwilling that 
his dear ones should have anything 
but softness, indulgence and sweet- 
ness to remember. It was an in- 
stance of reaction. 

But, if this parent had been gifted 
with the foresight in his home man- 
agement, which in other walks had 
helped him to success, he would have 
apprehended his unfairness to the 
younger generation. If there is 
an3rwhere an excuse for the very 
general distrust of children as mem- 
bers of society — for example, as ten- 
ants or inmates of hotels — it must be 
found in the injudicious behavior of 
parents. A child who is permitted 
to be rough and discourteous, to be 
119 



Ualfts Between Ufmes* 



inconsiderate and selfish, to be diso- 
bedient and untruthful, is a sufferer 
from the folly of those who should 
guide him more safely and wisely. 
Little children may play happily 
without being boisterous and with- 
out quarrehng. They may learn 
sincerity from the cradle. And they 
are far more contented, and far 
stronger for the conflicts of coming 
days, by the practice of obedi- 
ence in the formative period. No 
one will ever command others, 
who is not in the outset, taught 
to command himself ; and the only 
straight road to self-restraint and 
self-command Hes in the path of 
absolute pleasant and unquestion- 
ing obedience. 

We may teach our children to 
obey without treating them harshly 
120 







and without darkening their homes 
by scolding, fault-finding and punish- 
ment. Are we not the children of 
the Heavenly Father ? If our lives 
are keyed to the melodies of heaven, 
there will be music without discord 
or jar in our households. Not be- 
cause it is our will, but because it 
is God's will, we shall gently and 
yet firmly insist on obedience as 
the children's rule. We shall avoid 
threats and ill-temper, we shall 
think before we speak, and we shall 
put things in their right places. 
The child is our most precious 
earthly treasure, but the child is 
not ours only, he also belongs to 
God. To make of the child a des- 
pot, or to so train him that he is 
greedy, resentful, disobliging and 
indolent; is to be a poor anr 
121 



■'!/f^7V^^ 




Ualfts JBetween Zimcs. 



unfaithful steward in God's vine- 
yard. 

I sometimes fear that we are 
overzealous in our admiration of 
the clever and quickwitted child 
who reflects credit upon us and by 
whom our vanity is flattered^ while 
we are unduly troubled about the 
slower child who has few triumphs 
in the school-room. Every child 
cannot attain to the hundred per 
cent of the school-room test^ yet 
the child who studies faithfully, 
and does his best, may be as truly 
preparing for broad activities later 
on, as the other who is the pride 
and boast of his preceptors. Some 
years ago, in one of our Western 
colleges, a youth distinguished him- 
self by a career of exceptional bril- 
liance. He literally swept all be- 







122 


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In each year of his 
course, he came out laden with 
(v - '/ prizes and aureoled with honorable 
mention, and as the valedictorian, 
at commencement, he surprised 
and dehghted a hstening throng. 
But the sequel was very disap- 
pointing. The strain had been too 
great. The mind, immature and 
not supported by a strong body, 
was like a candle that too quickly 
burns to the socket. Nervous ex- 
haustion supervened, there came a 
few years of inertia and depression, 
and then an early death. No more 
victories for the finest student of 
his class, after college days were 
ended and the real battle-ground 
was reached. Many a mediocre 
man, commonplace, second-rate, un- 
successful; began his career with a 
123 



tialfts Between Zimcs. 



great flourish of trumpets and was, 
as a child^ and as a youth^ of ex- 
ceptional promise. 

We need not exalt dullness^ nor 
plume ourselves on the superior mer- 
its of the child who never does 
anything but fail. This is to whirl 
too far in the other direction. 
Our children should be held re- 
sponsible for a certain amount of 
faithful endeavor, within the range 
of their powers; their aptitudes 
and special talents should be noted. 
When however they have tried 
and have not succeeded^ we should 
not blame them, nor imagine that 
the delay is going to blight their 
lives. 

'* Oh, I love the little winner 

With the medal and the mark; 
He has gained the prize he sought for, 



Jv^ 











124 




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Everyone will haste to praise him, 

He is on the honor list; 
I've a tender thought of pity 

For the one who tried and missed.'* 

Never let us fail to emphasize the 
motive in childlife. Never let us 
be slow to praise the honest whole- 
hearted effort. And let there be 
in our hearts no despair of the dull 
child who is a plodder. The world's 
greatest edifices are built, stone 
upon stone. In the long run, the 
plodder often surpasses his neigh- 
bor whose progress at the outset is 
swifter, but who does not pause to 
let the power within him have full 
development. 

In nothing do we need to exer- 
cise more discretion than in the 
training we impart to children in 
matters of finance. A tendency of 
some thoughtless parents is to un- 
125 



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duly praise the child who shows 
signs of thrift, or who, as a little 
trader, in the way of bargains and 
exchanges, always gets the better 
of his fellows. 

" Frank sold his pet dog," said a 
mother, not long ago, ^^to a lady 
who took a fancy to the Httle crea- 
ture and he made a good thing of 
it. The dog is really worth noth- 
ing, except to a person who is fond 
of him, but Frank saw that Mrs. H. 
was willing to pay a good price, 
so he asked ten dollars. Poor 
Fido was so distressed to go away, 
but Frank looked at the ten dol- 
lars and was soon consoled for his 
loss." In my opinion, in this trans- 
action, the beast was nobler than 
the boy, and more capable of true 
friendship. Had Frank sold his 
126 






®ur Cbfl&rem 



dog that a sick mother might have 
had reUef from its barking or that 
a family in poverty might have 
been assisted^ the deed would not 
have been ignoble. As it was^ the 
sale being only a proof of the ex- 
istence in the boy's heart of that 
evil plant^ a love of money ^ it was 
a sign to deplore^ not to exploit. 

" I have taken a bad quarter-dol- 
lar/' said Johnny^ running into the 
room where his mother was chat- 
ting with a friend. " You have ? " 
said the mother^ in deep concern. 
" Well;, you must either get rid of 
it, my son, or lose it from your 
allowance, to pay you for being so 
careless." The child, having thus 
been instructed in dishonesty by 
maternal hps, hurried away, crest- 
fallen but resolute. Ere long he 
127 






Ualfts ^Between Utmes 



^^r^r^i^^^^F^::?^:^^ 



returned with flushed cheeks^ and 
sparkling eyes. "I've passed it, 
Mother/' he said. " I jumped on 
a street car, and the conductor 
gave me five nickles for it. Isn't 
that fortunate?" The mother 
smiled approval. Little did she 
dream that she was giving her 
child initiation into the great com- 
pany of rogues and swindlers, that 
she had actually broken down for 
him an ethical standard, and paved 
the way for him hereafter to win 
money at any price. The person 
who passes a counterfeit coin know- 
ingly, and with intention, cheats 
somebody, and somebody at the 
other end of the social chain will 
be a loser. The person who dehb- 
erately makes a good bargain, to 
the detriment of some one else^ 
128 



®ur Cbil&rem 



may possess the commercial in- 
stinct^ but morally he stands on 
the same plane with the midnight 
thief and is but little more respect- 
able. 

Our children should be early 
taught that money implies steward- 
ship. An opportunity occurs to 
suggest this in the pennies or bits 
of silver which are dropped in the 
missionary box at the Sunday- 
school. Sometimes children have 
the impression that this money 
goes to their teachers ; often they 
think httle about it^ and do not feel 
that it is theirs^ because their only 
part is in carrying it and putting 
it in the plate or box. If a child 
has its own regular allowance, and 
from this, gives regularly to the 
poor, or to the church, or the mis- 
9 129 



sionary cause^ an indispensable part 
of Christian education is then 
begun. 

Our children live in an age when 
the Sabbath is not strictly observed 
by many, and when even Christian 
people permit themselves larger li- 
cense than formerly with reference 
to the Lord's day. Where once, 
no child felt that Sunday afternoon 
or evening could be taken to pre- 
pare Monday's school-work, now 
hosts of children and young people, 
as a matter of course, defer the 
study of the weekly lessons of 
geography, history and arithmetic 
to the holy time. You remon- 
strate, and are answered that Sat- 
urday is their only play-time. The 
change is significant of a lowering 
of tone in Christian practice, and 
130 



©ur Cbil&rem 



is sorrowful as prophetic of a fur- 
ther dedine in the future. 

Family life should be happy, yet 
if troubles, and trials come, it is not 
always possible to exclude all knowl- 
edge of them from the children. 
Nor is it quite fair to older chil- 
dren to keep them in ignorance of 
straits which are taxing the family 
purse. They should be admitted 
to their parents' confidence. A son 
or daughter on the edge of grown- 
up life will not abuse such revela- 
tions, and if able only to assist by 
sympathy, the sympathy will be 
welcome. For daily happiness there 
is no recipe Hke plenty of home 
sunshine. Look ever on the bright 
side. Be frugal of complaint, but 
generous in caresses. Make the 
best of disappointment and hard- 
131 



Ualfts Between Ufmes* 



ship and form the habit of anticipat- 
ing something pleasant just ahead. 

Those who are childless are to be 
pitied when their feet are on the 
westering slope. For^ if one be 
taken^ the other will be left^ and 
great must be the loneliness then. 
It would seem that they to whom 
God sends no children should adopt 
one or more, so that in the last 
days, their lives should be cheered 
by the courage and brightened by 
the kindness of those over whom 
they had tended in earlier times. 
Being possessed of a loving heart, 
any of us may mother the child 
who is orphaned ; and may succor 
the one who is unfriended and soh- 
tary. 

Our Lord said ^"^ Suffer the little 
ones to come unto me, and forbid 
132 



^^^^^^^^^ 



r 



®ur CbflDrem 



them not^ for of such is the kingdom 
of heaven." We sometimes forget 
that the place of the lambs is in the 
Good Shepherd's fold^ and we do 
not consecrate them to Him and 
train them for him; nor are we 
ready to accept their early conse- 
cration as we might. Surely no- 
where are children so safe and so 
well-placed for two worlds as in the 
Church of Christ. 
133 




^ 

»i<>^-^l 



Ma^ Stations ^ ^ 
^ ^ ^ in %ifc 

In our hurrying and complex ac- 
tivities we of this age are apt to be 
impatient of delays. When we take 
a train^ we seek an express^ which 
shall rush from outset to terminal 
with as few stops as are practicable. 
If by reason of circumstances we 
find ourselves obliged to travel on 
an accommodation train, we lament 
the necessity, and are disposed to 
134 






/UiAu.. 




ma^ stations in Xife. 



fret at the more leisurely progress. 
Everywhere we meet people with 
resolution in their faces, haste in 
their movements, and anxiety de- 
picted in the lines on brow and lip. 
Yet, in God's economy, there is 
adequate provision for rest, and He 
sets by our wayside many little 
stations, wherein we may pause, 
consider, and take breath for another 
bit of the journey. Our Father 
does not mean that we shall never 
have an hour to spare, that we shall 
carry always a greater weight than 
is easy, or that we shall suffer be- 
cause of undue solicitude. The al- 
together fagged out and wearied 
person cannot be amiable ; in voice 
and tone and expression, irritability 
is manifest, because soul and body 
are so intimately combined and so 
135 






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XTalfts ^Between XTfmes* 

curiously interwoven^ that the for- 
mer cannot soar while the latter 
hangs upon it as a clog. The 
ethereal portion often lifts and stim- 
ulates the material, it is true^ but, 
correspondingly, the grosser nature 
at times depresses and enervates 
the spiritual. Our Lord beholds 
this condition, inseparable from our 
humanity, and He often bids us re- 
tire to the desert silence and find 
peace in communion with him. 

One of the little way stations we 
may make for ourselves wherever 
we happen to be. In the crowd, 
with strangers passing to and fro, 
in the kitchen with dinners to get 
and lowly tasks to pursue for the 
comfort of our loved ones, in the 
drawing-room among friends and 
acquaintances, it is possible now and 
136 






:r^^ 



Mas Stations in Xite* 



then, for a moment or two, to cul- 
tivate a habit of ejaculatory prayer. 
The petition may not be audibly 
worded. It may simply be spoken 
in the sanctuary of the heart; but 
for that instant, for the time it 
takes to send a thought heavenward, 
the world around us retires and we 
are alone with the Father, in whom 
is the perfection of tranquillity. 

This is our briefest stopping- 
place. A station for longer waiting 
and more conscious enjoyment is 
that over which we write. The 
MoROTNG Watch, or The EvENi:t^G 
Watch. 

A good man recently went home 
to stay forever in the immediate 
presence of the Master whom he 
had served for many years. Being 
busy and obliged to work for long 
137 






XTalfts Between Ufmes^ 

hours of every day, beginning early 
and ending late, he said that he 
more than ever needed his quiet 
time with Christ ; therefore he rose 
with the intention to secure his ex- 
tra half hour in the dawn, and he 
did not go to bed until he had ob- 
served the same season at night. 
The Bible read and studied consec- 
utively, the unhurried season of 
prayer, gave the disciple strength 
for every duty and life took on for 
him a great content. 

Often we awaken in the morning 
with a sense of oppression, of bond- 
age; there is so much before us. 
The daughter's frocks must be fin- 
ished for her summer outing, or her 
graduation gown — white and shim- 
mering, frilled and tucked and ruf- 
fled — is as burdensome in prospect 
188 



ii^^^yM^w'M-^^^-^^^^'^ 



kVr^^^— -^ ^^ P*^ 



mas stations in Xife. 

to a tired mother as if it were a 
mountain she had to climb. Some 
of us are cramped by limited means. 
We never lose the shadow and the 
cloud of poverty. Resources are 
not equal to the demands made 
upon them. The husband is out of 
work^ or his position is precarious. 
Some business necessity has reduced 
the son's salary. 

Here, dear friend, is one of the 
situations in which you need the 
comfort and the sustaining power 
of the morning watch. Stop at 
the station of the cross, and tell the 
patient Saviour how the work over- 
whelms and the worry distresses 
you. Stop long enough to pour 
out the whole story. He, who takes 
care of the robin and the bluebird 
and the swallow, whose hand holds 
139 



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the little nest safe on the topmost 
boughj and keeps the planets in 
their orbits^ will take care of you, 
and will somehow guide you into a 
safe and smooth haven if you can 
but confidently trust your barque 
of life to him. 

He may show you as you kneel 
that you are wasting and misdirect- 
ing your efforts ; he may convince 
you that there is for you and for 
the children of the home a more ex- 
cellent way. He can and will make 
sufficient for you the loaf and the 
cup ; he can, in temporal matters, 
give you assistance, as in spiritual 
concerns. We are much too prone 
to limit our Lord in affairs of earthly 
need and requirement. He is able 
to help in small as in great things. 
No time is lost which is spent in 
140 



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Mai5 Stations in %iU. 




prayer^ and nothing is poorer econ- 
omy than to cut off the morning 
and evening watch that we may get 
to the worldly business; or the in- 
viting social pleasure. 

There is a way station arched and 
garlanded and inscribed in charac- 
ters of living light. Songs of Praise. 
But oh ! beloved, do we not all need 
a reminder of the blessedness of 
this home of the happy heart. It 
is well for us to prepare for enjoy- 
ment here, by committing to mem- 
ory a store of hymns and psalms^ so 
that when we have special occasion 
for gratitude the anthem of praise 
may spontaneously suggest itself to 
us; so, too, that when we would 
console and occupy ourselves on a 
sleepless night, the stanzas of mel- 
ody may recur to us with silvery 
141 



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Ualfts Between Uimes, 

music. Gratitude is not a plant in- 
digenous to the soil inhuman nature. 
Kather^ is it an exotic of heavenly 
birth^ the seeds dropped into the 
heart by the vigilant angels who are 
ever ministering spirits around our 
paths. Gratitude may be culti- 
vated. The oftener we give God 
thanks^ the more we shall find for 
which to thank him. Count the 
mercies^ and recount them^ and thus 
ascertain how far they outnumber 
the sorrows^ pangs, and losses. And 
then, forget not that pangs and 
losses are often mercies too, for 

** God moves in a mysterious way 
His wonders to perform." 

The way-station labelled Illness 
is less eagerly welcomed, less re- 
signedly accepted than any other, 
for illness brings with it a forced 
142 



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Mas Stations in Xife^ 



respite which we seldom want. 
Also in its train stalk f ever^ gaunt 
and cruel; weakness^ drooping and 
dependent; pain^ racking and poig- 
nant^ clutched by the relentless hand 
of a severe illness. The statesman 
becomes as helpless as a child, the 
judge and the general are, physi- 
cally, on a level with the prisoner at 
the bar and the raw recruit in the 
ranks. A hushed and narrow world 
is that of the sick chamber, where 
nurses move softly about, where the 
doctor comes with his cheerful, in- 
scrutable countenance, where death 
and life meet and wage battle over 
the form of one who can do little 
except play the part of prostrate 
victim. Yet even here the unresist- 
ing, child-like, trusting attitude of 
the Christian often assists the nurse 
143 



^^WM 



■jm 



Ualfts Between Ufmes* 



and physician, and aids in routing 
the morbid condition and building 
up vitality. 

When we are set down at the 
way-station of Conyalescence, we 
have new views of the beauty of 
earth, and a new comprehension of 
the compassionate tenderness of our 
friends and kindred. In the hurly- 
burly of robust health we may have 
been doubtful of the love of some 
of those nearest us, a love that 
was lacking in demonstration, a love 
that failed to make itself felt from 
day to day in a thousand little ca- 
ressing ways and gentle amenities. 
But sickness touches a chord which 
vibrates and sets in motion many 
harmonies. The sight of the strong 
man laid low, of the energetic 
woman laid aside, is very touching 
144 



ff^ 



Mas Stations in Xffe^ 



to those who have never associated 
anything but vigor and capabihty 
with these master spirits, and their 
pitying affection prompts them to 
make the situation bearable by 
every tender sign and token. Flow- 
ers and fruit, dainties and delicacies, 
are sent to alleviate the tedium and 
invite the appetite of the convales- 
cent, and friends come in with 
cheering words and loving smiles. 
As one gains in health and gradually 
returns to the old routine, there is 
often a rebuilding of tissues and a 
large return of capacity, almost 
like a renewing of youth, due to 
the burning out of old and effete 
matter, and the renovation of the 
whole man. 

The station to which we must all 
tend, the booth crowned with 
10 145 



Xi;alfts :S5etween Uimea* 



sheaves of wheat and green with 
branches of palm, is marked Old 
Age. Why some of us survey 
this so reluctantly, why we dread 
it and defer our arrival to it, would 
be puzzling and might baffle con- 
jecture and solution, if it were not 
that we confound old age with senil- 
ity. The one is ripe experience, 
robust maturity, and mellow tolera- 
tion with the mistakes of youth. 
It is the full-blown rose, as beauti- 
ful as the folded bud, no petal 
loosened, no perfume lacking. The 
other is withered, ineffective and 
disintegrated life, and may well 
be regarded with something akin to 
repugnance. Age is, as Browning 
shows so beautifully in his magnifi- 
cent lyric Eabbi Ben Ezra, 

" The last of life, for which the first was made." 
146 



Mas Stations in %ifc. 



People who continue to grow, 
who continue to take a vivid inter- 
est in the common days, and to 
serve their generation, need fear 
neither age nor decadence. To them 
the halting place of Old Age is an 
umpire's seat whence they may dis- 
pense favors and award prizes; or 
as a seat of dignity on the edge of 
the throng, where whoever has 
the right to occupation has the ac- 
companiment of command and of 
power. 

Every period of life has its own 
charms, and though age may have 
surrendered the soft coloring and 
pliant grace of an earlier day, its 
benignity and composure are of not 
inferior attractiveness. Could we 
but remember that we are moulding 
our faces, that from youth to mid- 
147 



Ualfts Between TLimcs. 



die life, and thence to age, we are 
daily impressing upon our counte- 
nances the character of the inner 
life, so that every old face is both 
a revelation and a history, we should 
be more careful than we are about 
the dispositions we carry with us. 
Our exclamations of anger, our 
frowns, our provocation at trifles, 
all assist in forming the lineaments 
of our countenances. Wrinkles are 
not unbecoming, but the fretful 
lines and the puckered marks of 
contention, avarice and unkindriess 
are disfiguring to the young, and 
almost ineradicable in the old. 

We come to a beautiful way- 
station at the borderland where the 
air grows thin and clear, and on 
bright days we catch a glimpse of 
the shining ones over the river. 
148 






^^^^^^^^m 



wnas stations in Xife^ 



This is the Beulah station^ where 
pilgrims sometimes hear snatches 
of chorals sung amid the sweet 
fields beyond the swelling flood, 
and where they who tarry willingly, 
hoping for the day when the Lord 
shall send for them, grow more and 
more into his visible likeness. Some 
of us reach the Beulah station be- 
fore our heads are gray ; some spend 
the changeful years from childhood 
to the utmost bound of fourscore 
and ten, ere we attain to its velvet 
slopes and rest beside its rippling 
stream. This is as God wills. A 
land of Beulah begins for some of 
his dear saints many years before 
he calls them hence, but for them 
there is more submission to his ap- 
pointments and more endeavor to 
please him than for others. 
149 



XCalfts ^Between Ufmcs^ 



'* Lord, when thou wilt, and as thou wilt, 

Work thou thy will in me; 
I trust in that atoning blood 
Which was outpoured, a crimson flood 

On awesome Calvary." 

For any of us can there be on the 
road of life a sweeter fruition than 
to learn God's will^ and to dwell 
within it^ as in a secure abode ? Not 
to make exceptions, not to choose, 
not to murmur, not to strain at the 
leash, but to feel in every pore of 
being and in every conscious breath, 
that God's will is best, and that it 
is joy and gladness to be used as 
God pleases. 

So living, we can never know de- 
feat or disappointment. Failure on 
the earthly side may be success on 
the heavenly side. If we stumble, 
we are aware of a hand that was 
pierced swift to uplift us. If we 
150 



Mas Stations in Xite^ 



sin, we repent, and begin again, 
sure that our infirmities are par- 
doned and our sins blotted out. 
And the way, though steep and 
stony, is forever up, up, up, till we 
leave the bounds of time, and the 
last station here is passed, and we 
enter in the golden hereafter of an 
eternity in ImmanueVs land 
151 



0UN2i 190J 



OCT 11 1901 



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